Woman found dead inside box in Cebu was 19-year-old from Davao del Norte

A photo of Rhea Mae Tocmo taken from her Facebook page. Tocmo was found dead, stuffed inside a box and left at the side of the road in Barangay Tisa, Cebu City on Monday, July 17, 2023.

CEBU CITY, Philippines – Police here have already identified the woman found dead and stuffed inside a box left along the road in Barangay Tisa, Cebu City.

Police Major Angelito Valleser, chief of the Punta Princesa Police Station, confirmed that the victim was a 19-year-old woman from Davao named Rhea Mae Tocmo.

READ: Dead woman, tied and wrapped, found inside a box in Tisa, Cebu

Tocmo is from Panabo City in Davao del Norte. She was residing with relatives in Mandaue City after flying into Cebu last June 11, 2023, for employment opportunities, said Valleser.

According to investigators, the victim’s relatives residing here in Cebu positively identified her corpse, pointing out that they recognized the shorts as Tocmo’s favorite pair.

The relatives added that the clothes on Tocmo were the ones she was wearing the last time they saw her alive.

Tocmo was found wrapped with a white blanket and her hands tied inside a discarded box along Katipunan Extension in Barangay Tisa, Cebu City last Monday, July 17.

In the meantime, Valleser said they already have leads on the crime but refused to give more details, including possible ‘persons of interest,’ in order not to preempt ongoing investigations.

Police have also started gathering closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage in areas where Tocmo was last seen alive, including in Mandaue City, where she was living with relatives.

In addition, they will also be securing CCTV videos from inns as the white blanket she was wrapped may have belonged to such establishments.

/bmjo